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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The article “Personality Counts"

The article “Personality Counts” by Steve Bates basically examines the role of personality in the hiring process and it also analyze why certain organization are now using psycholology tests in order to match their job with personality attributes of job applicants. Article explores the applied aspect of personality test in the management in order to select the right person in right job position. The central idea of the article Personality Counts is that psychological test can help job applicants to succeed in obtaining a position which is best suitable for them. In addition to this, some licit and scientifically approved test can help a lot to recruiters’ to evaluate job candidates to select the applicants who are best suited for particular position. But it doesn’t mean that all personality assessments can deliver 100 percent result to the employer.

It can be inferred from the article that personality of a candidate is one of the most important criteria in hiring a candidate. Personality of a person can tell a lot about his/her thought-process and preferences in life. Therefore, it is an effective factor in making the 'perfect' match between the person and the job at hand. Approximately, around 40 percent of the HR professionals are now applying this tactic to get better result in hiring and the trends of applying this test in recruiting is increasing in great extent because of recent reports of workplace violence and the events of September 11.

Article suggest that if the personality test is properly configured to identify people who will be highly satisfied with important aspects of a job, hiring such people will significantly reduce turnover. In other words, organizations interested in hiring high quality employees and reducing turnover can achieve greater success in both areas by employing a well-developed personality test in the hiring process. But, employer should carefully analyze the trade-off between the cost and benefit of employing such test in hiring process and navigate bewildering maze, jargon and claims of test vender’s in order to take desired level of benefit. And in order to do so, HR professionals have to define exactly what they hope to accomplish with personality assessment before getting started.

Although incorporating personality test in hiring is meaningful and worth doing, still there are some limitations like if recruiter prioritized and reliance too much on such test then there is greater probability of having so many people of similar traits and characteristics which has badly effect on the entire organization performance which in turn leads the company to drastic unexpected failure. In addition to this, if the company uses personality test before hiring anyone, then they have to take care and follow different laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Disabilities Act and Equal Opportunity Commission Act.Therefore, employer should not discriminate against any racial or ethnic group, invade privacy unnecessarily to respect the different laws and act.

In conclusion, article summarizes that hiring practices vary almost as much as the people employer designed to screen. Given this perspective, a best practice begins with a clear evaluation of the target job(s) for which the organization is hiring. Once the job requirements are defined, the organization can identify the hiring practices most appropriate to screen candidates. Use a well-developed personality test as an initial screening tool. The flexibility of a personality test allows an organization to screen candidates for quality and the likelihood that they will stick with the job.